1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to automated vending machines for selectively dispensing any of a plurality of food products or other dispensable units of merchandise. More particularly, this invention relates to an automated vending machine of the type comprising a plurality of vertical magazines each of which consists of an endless belt having a plurality of spaced product carrying trays thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automated vending machines are widely used for dispensing pre-packaged food products when a purchaser inserts the required amount of money and activates the appropriate control mechanisms. Such vending machines have a number of advantages. For example, they can be placed in many locations (e.g., in parks, gas stations, etc.) where, for various reasons, it is not feasible to have a snack shop or stand, requiring the presence of a full-time operator, to vend the same products. Vending machines also require less space and are less expensive to construct than snack shops. In addition, because vending machines do not require the constant presence of an operator to vend the food products to the purchaser, they are somewhat less expensive to operate than snack shops. All of these advantages and others have contributed to the popularity of automatic vending machines.
The specific structure of vending machines varies widely depending on the type of food product being dispensed and other factors. U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,880, issued to Arthur R. Gross and assigned to the assignee of this invention, is an example of one type of automatic vending machine. In the vending machine disclosed in this patent, a plurality of magazines are provided for holding a variety of articles, such as different brands of candy bars. Each magazine includes an endless belt having a plurality of uniformly spaced trays rigidly mounted thereon and extending perpendicularly to the belt. Each tray carries one unit of merchandise (e.g., the candy bar) which slides off the tray as the endless belt moves around the lower pulley. Prior to this unit sliding off the tray, the empty preceding tray on the endless belt engages a pivotably mounted receiving tray. The receiving tray already has thereon the unit of merchandise which had been carried on the preceding tray. Upon engagement by the preceding tray, the receiving tray is tilted to allow the unit thereon to slide down into a chute leading to an externally accessible slot in the front of the machine. As the enddless belt continues rotating, the preceding tray is disengaged from the receiving tray. Subsequently, the unit on the next tray slides onto the receiving tray returning it to its normal position awaiting another dispensing cycle.
Although the above-noted machine is quite effective for dispensing various products, it has been possible in some instances to cheat or defeat the machine. This allows one to gain access to at least some of the food products contained in the machine without paying the purchase price. In this regard, each of the receiving trays for each of the magazines is normally prevented from rotating by a locking bar. This prevents the products from being removed from the receiving trays before the purchase thereof. All of the locking bars for all of the receiving trays are mounted on the same transverse locking shaft. This shaft is operated to unlock the locking bars whenever the endless belt in any one of the magazines is selectively activated by a motive means. However, because all of the locking bars are mounted on this shaft, whenever the shaft is rotated to unlock one of the locking bars, all of the other locking bars for the other receiving trays are also unlocked.
It has been possible in the past for wires or other elongated members to be threaded upwardly through the access slot and the product carrying chutes to hook onto the back of each of the receiving trays. Thus, when the cheater places a certain amount of money in the machine to cause one product to be vended, the locking shaft is rotated to unlock all of the locking bars. Since all of the receiving trays are now unlocked, the wires can be used to actuate all of the receiving trays in addition to that one for which the money has been paid. This gives the cheater a plurality of food products from all of the magazines across the width of the machine instead of just the one he has payed for. In addition to the revenue which is lost due to the stolen products, for all those magazines whch have been cheated the next purchaser sees only an empty receiving tray in the product viewing window. This purchaser believes that the machine is empty even though all of the other trays in the cheated magazines may in fact be loaded wth products. This means that the vending machine is not fully utilized since a serviceman must come to refill the receiving trays in the cheated magazines before further vending can continue. The need for such servicing, which may be quite frequent if the ability to cheat the machine is widely known, increases the costs of operating the machine. In addition, the time during which purchasers believe the machine is empty is non-productive and further decreases the amount of revenue obtainable from the machine.